By Magaly Muñoz

Oakland residents will soon vote for new school board directors in four separate districts across the city.

The Post reached out to the eight candidates across Districts 1, 3, 5, and 7 to see what their views are on various topics concerning the OUSD community. Below are questions and answers from District 1 candidates Rachel Latta and Ben Salop.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Q1: What do you think the biggest challenge will be to address while on the board?

Salop: The biggest challenge that we have to address as a board, and as a district, is the lack of trust that our parents and our community members have in the district.

In a lot of issues, we’ve seen that parents who are more interested are more likely to work with their students and their educators for early reading partners, which has measurable successes in increasing grade-level reading rates. So if we can get serious on [community engagement], then it’ll be a lot easier to target the budget. As well as, student success, scores, student achievement, college and career readiness, equity, inclusion, all the other issues that require community trust.

Latta: Change is hard, but fundamental change in how our district is structured is needed. I am committed to working to address systemic inequities in our schools by creating a more equitable, student centered district.

[Solutions include] making difficult and necessary budget choices that center students without reinforcing some of the harmful and inequitable decision-making of the past. We also need to address difficult, but necessary systemic inequities in our enrollment process that contribute to segregation and uneven distribution of attendance.

I will create space for community engagement outside of board meetings by taking the discussions out to the community, with regular office hours, school site listening sessions and direct outreach to families.

Q2: Given the large financial debt OUSD has and the looming threat of school closures, how will you ensure that funding for essential resources remain for students? What ideas do you have that do not include closing down schools?

Salop: The first thing we have to do is to listen to our students on what’s most important. We can’t have a concrete strategy to balance the budget or identify priorities by just saying we’re going to have an open conversation.

OUSD project management skills are awful. We have probably lost a ton of money in the 10s of millions of dollars in the last decade, just from poor management skills and poor administration. That is a rough guess by my own back of the envelope calculations. If we don’t figure out how we’re going to do that by auditing our dollars and appointing qualified independent project managers, we won’t be able to use our money any more effectively. And resolving that issue is one of the ways to reduce our deficit.

Latta: We need to do everything we can to protect positions that most directly impact students at our school sites. I would like to direct OUSD to thoroughly examine the scope of work for all central positions in order to understand what is duplicative and whose work is not reaching our sites as successfully as we intend. This includes talking with sites to understand the effectiveness of how these positions directly contribute to the day to day operations of our school sites and authentically contribute to student success and well-being.

As a board member, I will create space for community engagement outside of board meetings by taking the discussions out to the community, with regular office hours, school site listening sessions and direct outreach to families.

Q3: Students have reported feeling as though there is not enough inclusivity amongst their peers, often feeling a divide with those of other race and ethnic backgrounds. What do you think is the best way to foster an environment where students are not feeling excluded because of their differences to peers?

Salop: The first thing to do is to look at our curriculum and see how our school sites and what we’re teaching our students is helping to perpetuate this issue.

What I like to do, and what I will continue to do, is to communicate with students and parents and talk to them and let their approaches and ideas drive the policy making of the district.  [I’ve participated] in an OUSD-wide advisory body with students from every single school, and that was a way for us to have these conversations and think about the ways in which schools and students were divided, and how that created a culture of intolerance. And I think supporting that measure and expanding it across our schools is really important just getting our students to work more closely.

Latta: We need to prioritize explicit site-based professional development opportunities for teachers and all staff. We also need to create concrete opportunities for students to learn from each other and about each other in the school day, including building the social-emotional tools needed for students to understand what inclusively really looks like in peer relationships.

Finally, schools should focus efforts on finding ways for students to connect through common interests, such as sports or the arts, and use them as a tool for connection for students from different backgrounds.

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By Magaly Muñoz

In a few weeks, Oakland residents will vote for new school board directors in four separate districts across the city.

The Post reached out to the eight candidates across Districts 1, 3, 5, and 7 to see what their views are on various topics concerning the OUSD community. Below are questions and answers from District 3 candidates Dwayne Aikens Jr and VanCendric Williams.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Q1: What do you think the biggest challenge will be to address while on the board?

Aikens: One of the biggest things to address while being on the board, we’re definitely making sure that we’re being structurally creative and smart about the resources that’s coming into OUSD, so that after we get out of state receivership, that we can stand on our own and just be able to function as a large school district.

Williams: The biggest challenge is the sustainability of our overall school district. We’ve been under state oversight for 20 years, and our district has lost 15,000 students to charter schools, significantly impacting our public school budget. Year after year, we face more school cuts and budget adjustments while trying to redesign school closures to ensure stability. Still, inevitably, we continue to balance the budget on the backs of our Black students.

Furthermore, to address our public schools’ inequities, we must prioritize resource allocation and ensure that schools in underserved areas receive adequate funding and resources to provide a quality education.

Retaining qualified teachers and classified support professionals by enhancing their professional growth will benefit our student’s academic outcomes, especially in schools with higher stress levels and fewer resources.

Q2: Given the large financial debt OUSD has and the looming threat of school closures, how will you ensure that funding for essential resources remain for students? What ideas do you have that do not include closing down schools?

Aikens: The ideas that I have around not closing down schools is really leveraging being here in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area and partnering more with entities that are Fortune 500 companies, as well as some of the tech companies. I think we need to do more of that to make sure that we’re not just depending on tax revenue to solve the problems.

I don’t think that we need to close down any schools. I think that we need to invest in the schools that we have, make sure that they’re all performing up to a level to make them attractive for people that live in the community to send their kids to instead of sending them to Berkeley and other school districts outside of OUSD.

Williams: Addressing the financial challenges of OUSD, while ensuring essential resources remain available for students, is a complex task. We must be intentional about efficient resource allocation, conducting a thorough budget audit of current expenditures to identify and eliminate inefficiencies.

Second, a key strategy in our proposal is to establish and strengthen community partnerships. We can secure additional funding and resources by forging alliances with local businesses, non-profits, and community organizations.

Third, we can organize district-wide fundraising campaigns and events to generate additional revenue. We can also explore opportunities to share services and resources with neighboring schools.

Finally, a crucial part of our proposal is to advocate for increased education funding at the state and federal levels.

Q3: Students have reported feeling as though there is not enough inclusivity amongst their peers, often feeling a divide with those of other race and ethnic backgrounds. What do you think is the best way to foster an environment where students are not feeling excluded because of their background and differences to peers?

Aikens: We definitely have to figure out better ways to deal with tough situations and conversations when it comes to race, gender and just differences. We also need to teach compassion through learning.

We should bring in an expert that studies multiple backgrounds to have tough conversations, so our biases as the adult and the leader won’t overshadow the conversation or shut down some of the conversation that a young person or another staff member may have.

Williams: We must foster a culture that encourages more student-led initiatives, clubs, and activities that promote diversity and inclusion. Creating restorative circles and safe spaces for open dialogue about race, ethnicity, and students with disabilities can help students express their feelings and learn from each other, further fueling their motivation.

Another way to foster an inclusive environment is to organize events and activities celebrating different cultures and backgrounds. These can build community, appreciation for diversity, and connections across various backgrounds.

Finally, we can provide cultural competency training for teachers and staff, which can help them address the diverse needs of their students. Implementing a culturally relevant curriculum can also help students see themselves reflected in their education and learn about different cultures and experiences.

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 ‘The voters …  not a few a few billionaires – are the ones with the power to ensure our democratic process,’ said Lee

Supervisor Keith Carson, Senator Nancy Skinner, former Assemblymember Sandré Swanson also oppose the recalls

By Ken Epstein

Congresswoman Barbara Lee in a strongly worded statement this week opposed the recalls of both Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao in campaigns lavishly funded by a handful of out-of-town billionaires and backed by corporate media.

“Whether it’s two governors or local elected officials, I’ve always opposed recalls, and oppose the recalls on our Nov. 5 ballot,” wrote Lee.

“They’re undemocratic, costly, and chaotic,” she said. “They prevent our officials from governing and deplete badly needed resources from our communities.”

Lee continued: “The voters – through regular elections, not a few a few billionaires – are the ones with the power to ensure our democratic process remains strong and in place.”

“Now is the time to come together and work to address the real and serious issues facing our communities.”

Echoing Lee’s comments, State Senator Nancy Skinner agreed. “As she does on countless other issues, Barbara Lee speaks for me on recalls as well – past & present. I oppose them on principle.

“Except in rare circumstances of serious misconduct, recalls are undemocratic and a waste of public funds. That’s especially true in the case of the Nov. 5 recalls, when the incumbents have only been in office for two years and will be up for reelection just two years from now,” Skinner said.

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“Wealthy interests should not be able to circumvent the regular democratic process and pay to put a recall on the ballot. Let’s come together and work on the issues facing our communities,” she said.

Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson also urged a “no” vote on the two recalls. “When voters elect their representatives, they expect them to be given the time necessary to adjust to their roles and deliver on their responsibilities,” he said. “Both of the recall efforts we’re seeing now began within a year of the Alameda County District attorney and the Oakland Mayor assuming office.

“It’s simply too soon,” he said.

Carson added, “It’s worth noting that 11 states don’t even allow recalls, and in the 39 states that do, malfeasance is generally required for the process to begin.”

Sandré R. Swanson, who served in the California State Assembly from 2006-2012, said, ” I will never support a recall supported and motivated only by political objectives. I believe this runs counter to the Democratic process and the importance of an election by the people.”

Wealthy hedge fund managers and real estate developers have bankrolled the campaigns to unseat both Thao and Price, and many observers expect them to have an outsize influence on local policies and priorities should these campaigns prove successful, and their favored candidates are elected.

Phillip Dreyfuss, who owns a home in Piedmont that is listed as his residence, contributed 4 out of 5 dollars raised by the campaign to oust Thao as of Aug. 1, according to Oaklandside.

Between January and June 2024, a recall group raised $605,000. “Every single dollar came from Dreyfuss, who is a partner in the San Francisco Farallon Capital Management hedge fund,” according to Oaklandside. Contributions helped pay for the company that gathered signatures to place the recall on the ballot.

The campaign against Pamela Price raised $1.1 million in the first three months of 2024 and over $3.3 million since the summer of last year, according to an Oaklandside report in May of this year.

Farallon Capital’s Dreyfuss, along with “Isaac Abid, a real estate investor for HP Investors,” which owns numerous properties in downtown Oakland, established the ‘Supporters of Recall Pamela Price’ committee, which has raised most of the big dollar contributions for the campaign.

Their committee has also paid the signature-gathering bills for the Save Alameda for Everyone (SAFE) committee, which is the public face of the campaign,” the May 8, Oaklandside article said.

Besides the deep pocket funders, the forces lined up to unseat Price and Thao include police unions in Alameda County, who Price says desire to return to the “Good Ole days” when previous district attorneys did not hold them accountable for their actions.

In a press statement released by the Oakland Police Officers Association this week, distributed by public relations operative Sam Singer, the OPOA opposed the sale of the Coliseum, claiming without evidence that the city is heading toward “insolvency” and proposed that hiring fiscal consultants would be a solution.

Singer, who has a long history defending Chevron against environmentalists and the oil pollution impacting indigenous people of the Amazon in Ecuador, currently represents the OPOA.

In a press conference Thursday at Everett and Jones in Jack London Square, Price criticized the “cowardice and opportunism of those who seek to recall rather than solve and fight for second chances.”

She said, “The police unions want to control the justice system and the DA’s function by blaming the prosecutor for the causes of crime and (long-term) failed policies and failed policing tactics.”

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